This week’s theme
Adverbs

This week’s words
elsewhither
posthaste
abreast
ad nauseam

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(ad NAW-zee-uhm)

MEANING:

adverb: To an excessive degree.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin, from ad- (toward) + from nausea (sea-sickness), from naus (ship). Earliest documented use: 1565.

NOTES:

Ever heard someone repeat a joke until it stopped being funny, or watched a commercial so often you could recite it backwards in your sleep? If so, you’ve experienced it ad nauseam. The ancient Romans knew something about overdoing it: banquets, conquests, togas, and οrgies ad nauseam, literally until one is feeling queasy.

USAGE:

“Robert Sapolsky: I say over and over, ad nauseam, until they’re rolling their eyes, that all of what I write about are statistical patterns, all are trends.”
Brian Bethune; The End of Free Will; Maclean’s (Toronto, Canada); May 15, 2017.

See more usage examples of ad nauseam in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: